Show Review – Call of the Wild / Dinosaur Jr. at the Sinclair (12.15.2013)

In a world full of uninspiring band names, New Yorkers Call of the Wild should at the very least get an award for picking a name that is both original and fits band’s music and image to a t.

For one, there’s a hilarious Spinal Tap-esque band image – incredibly long hair, moustaches and a girl drummer who can easily be mistaken for a boy.

Musically, however, they mean business – elsewhere the band’s genre was described as both “pop-punk” and “garage rock”, but I myself would’ve referred to it as primal/neanderthal rock.

Equal parts Aerosmith, Melvins and Motorhead, their music takes no hostages and leaves hardly any room for ballads or slower material – exactly what I would expect from an opener for Dinosaur Jr.

Speaking of latter…

My introduction to Dino Jr. came via MTV and a video for “Feel the Pain” (which, if memory serves me right, didn’t feature members of the band itself).

An expanded version of the said introduction came via Michael Azerrad’s indie rock bible Our Band Could Be Your Life and that’s how I also discovered Deep Wound – hardcore predecessor of the band.

The show (one of two nights that the band played at the Sinclair) featured best of both worlds – old tunes/hits/crowd favorites (Feel the Pain, In a Jar, Just Like Heaven), assorted new songs and even one number by Deep Wound (Trading Ground)!

The amount of Sonic Youth-ish sounding songs in the setlist was astounding, but given that both bands were one-time labelmates it shouldn’t be a big surprise – its hard to tell who exactly ripped off who. That little quibble aside, the band was in a top notch form last night and deserve much respect for sticking to their guns and staying together after years of fighting one other.